Carnival Pays $18 Million Fine for Ocean Dumping

The company pleaded guilty to charges of making false staments about ocean dumping.

Author:: Michael Dunn
Publish date:: Apr 22, 2002 9:36 AM EDT

Carnival

agreed to pay $18 million in fines after admitting to illegally polluting the oceans with its cruise ships.

The cruise line operator pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to six felony counts of filing false statements with the U.S. Coast Guard concerning oily discharges from Carnival ships. The company agreed to pay $9 million in fines and to contribute another $9 million to environmental organizations.

Prosecutors said that Carnival engineers repeatedly discharged oily fluids from machinery, engines, and other shipboard operations into the Caribbean, and that those same engineers overrode sensors designed to stop the dumping of those contaminants.

Royal Caribbean Cruises

(RCL) - Get Report

, the No. 2 cruse line, also recently paid out $27 million in fines for ocean-dumping stemming from incidents in the late 1990s.